Constantine: Danse Vaudou
"Danse Vaudou" is the fifth episode of season one of the supernatural horror series Constantine. The series is based on the Hellblazer comic book series by DC Comics. The episode was directed by John Badham with a script written by Christine Boylan. It first aired on NBC on November 21st, 2014. Synopsis The next leg of John, Chas and Zed's journey to stem the tide of the Rising Darkness brings them to the Crescent City - New Orleans, Louisiana. Here they discover that an NOPD detective named Jim Corrigan was involved in a shooting incident when he encountered a strange woman wearing a surgical mask who stabbed an innocent victim to death with fabric shears. When Corrigan opened fire on the woman, the bullets had no affect on her. Similar incidents occur in and around the city. A middle-aged man picks up a hitchhiker named Philip Carlberg forty miles outside the city. The man picks him up, but as they near the city, the strange youth disappears from the car and appears on the road, causing the motorist to veer off to the side into a tree. Another woman named Madeline Devereaux longs for her late husband who passed away from cancer before she ever had a chance to say goodbye to him. She employs the aid of one of John's more untrustworthy associates - Papa Midnite. Midnite holds a voodoo ritual to allow Madeline to speak to her husband, but the process is interrupted when Constantine arrives. After investigating all three cases, Constantine determines that it is Midnite's magic that is actually resurrecting the dead. This is not Midnite's intent and it soon becomes apparent that it is the guilt of the surviving family members that is providing the energy by which these spirits are being made flesh again. The woman with the surgical mask was a model named Misaki Ross, whose face was ruined by a jealous rival and she soon took her own life. Philip Carlberg once lived with his grandmother, but she evicted him from her home as a form of "tough love" because of Philip's penchant for doing drugs. John bargains with Midnite to put an end to all of this. In exchange, John seeks a consultation with Papa's late sister, the spirit of a powerful voodoo priestess named Cedella. Constantine and Midnite go to the cemetery where they disinter the remains of Misaki Ross, Philip Carlberg, and Madeleine's husband, Clarke Devereaux. They create a funeral pyre for the bodies while Chas, Zed and Detective Corrigan collect the guilt-ridden survivors. John and Midnite conduct a second ritual and burn the bodies. Through the course of this, the survivors are able to come to terms with their guilt. As promised, Midnite allows John to consult with his sister. Cedella exists now as nothing but a skull with occult markings carved into the bone. Midnite summons Cedella's spirit and John asks about the Rising Darkness. The spirit tells him that there is nothing he can do to stop it. Cast Principal Cast Guest Stars Co-Stars Notes & Trivia * Constantine was created by Daniel Cerone and David S. Goyer. The character of John Constantine was created by writer Alan Moore and artist Steve Bissette. He first appeared in the comic book Saga of the Swamp Thing #37 in 1985. * This episode is rated TV-14. * This episode is production code number 3J5556. TV Rage.com; Constantine, "Danse Vaudou"; Episode Info. * Actor Harold Perrineau is credited in this episode, but the character of Manny does not make an appearance. * Actor Emmett J. Scanlan is credited as Emmett Scanlan in this episode. * Actor Ayo Adefila is uncredited for his participation in this episode. * This is the first episode of Constantine directed by John Badham. It is his only episode from season one of the series. * This is the first episode of Constantine written by Christine Boylan. She writes two episodes this season. Her next episode is "Angels and Ministers of Grace". * This is the second appearance of actor Michael James Shaw in the role of Papa Midnite. He appeared last in "The Devil's Vinyl". * This is the first appearance of actor Emmett J. Scanlan in the role of Jim Corrigan. He appears next in "Waiting for the Man". * This is the first television acting work for Rohan Myers, who plays young Jim Corrigan in a flashback scene in this episode. * The name of the motorist who picks up Philip Carlberg is Berrington. Allusions * Jim Corrigan is a character seen in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Bernard Baly, he first appeared in More Fun Comics #52 in 1940. The comic version of Corrigan was a New York City police detective who was murdered by a gangster named "Gat" Benson. When Corrigan died, his spirit bonded with that of the Angel of Vengeance, and he returned to life to mete out justice as the host form for a being called the Spectre. In this episode, Zed Martin has a precognitive flash of Corrigan's ultimate fate. A green and white aura (the Spectre's colors) can be seen around Corrigan's body in the vision. * Cedella is a character who appears in DC Comics titles as well and was first seen as a living person Hellblazer #72, though her skull had made numerous appearances prior to that, going back to Hellblazer #1. Similar to how she is portrayed in this episode, Cedella was the sister of Papa Midnite and a powerful practitioner of voodoo. In the comics, Midnite murdered his sister and consigned her soul to Hell, but still communed with her through her skull. On Constantine, the nature of Cedella's death is not revealed. * "Danse Vaudou" appears to be some element of a voodoo ritual. The word is spoken by Papa Midnite when John and he attempt to assuage the spirits of the dead. * John Constantine refers to Misaki Ross as a "not-so-friendly ghost". This is a reference to Casper the Friendly Ghost, who was the central character featured in a series of animated works dating back to the 1930s. Casper appeared in several cartoon films by Famous Studios and also had a comic book series by Harvey Comics. In 1995, Casper received a live-action feature film that yielded several sequels. * Papa Midnite makes reference to the Blues vinyl record, which contained demonic significance that Constantine stole from him. This took place in episode 1x03, "The Devil's Vinyl". Bloopers * Quotes * See also External Links * * * Constantine at Wikipedia * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Danse Vaudou" at the Constantine Wiki References ---- Category:Constantine/Episodes Category:2014/Episodes Category:John Badham/Director Category:Christine Boylan/Writer Category:Kevin Blank/Associate producer Category:Daniel Cerone/Executive producer Category:David S. Goyer/Executive producer Category:Dieter Ismagil/Producer Category:Romeo Tirone/Supervising producer Category:Mark Verheiden/Executive producer Category:Bear McCreary/Composer Category:Episodes with crew categories Category:Episodes with plot summaries